The English Surname Dedmon, along with Deadman, Debnam, Dedman, Debman, etc.,
is a variant of Debenham, a place name in the county of Suffolk. The origin is
"of Debenham, a parish in the diocese of Norwich, and is absoultely
certain, that Deadman, Dedman, and Dedmon are variants. The steps of corruption
were as follows: Debenham, Debnam, Deadnam, Deadman, Deadmon, Dedmon. It is
another case of imitation, for which there is such a strange tendency in
nomenclature and hunderds of examples are found including Putman for Puttenham;
Twyman for Twineham; Buckmon for Buckenham; and Cotman for Cottenham.
Translated literally from old English words, we have "homestead by a deep
river". We read in the hundred rolls of 1273 for the county of Huntingdon
of one John de Debenham, and again in the same record for the year : 1279, are
the references to another John de Debenham. The Hearth tax rolls for Suffolk
refer to Robert Debenham, Debnam in 1674, along with Francis Debnam, Deadman;
John Deadman, and Thomas Dednum, in 1688 Martha Harris, sister to Samuel
Deadman was buried at St. Dionis Backchurch, and in 1706 Samuel Debnam's burial
record is also recorded. The wedding of Rice Deadman to Mary Shawbridge was
celebrated at St. George's church, Hanover Square, London in the year 1783, and
in 1799, James, the son of James Deadman, "a soldier", was baptized
at Canterbury Cathereral. The name of Thomas Debnan, of Winton, North Carolina,
born in 1858, is listed in Burkes American Families, among the landed Gentry
and traced back to John Buckner Debnam, who left England in 1794 and settled in
Norfolk, BA, becoming the founder of this family. Notes from Jim Dedmon:
Evolution of our name was: Deadman, Dedman and Dedmon. There have been other
variations, such as the family in Chattanooga, TN who put a "D" on
the end... Dedmond, so their mail wouldn't get mixed up with other relatives.
The name Deadman apparently doesn't mean a "Dead Man", but a man from
Debenham (Saxton meaning, "Deep River Homestead", in Suffolk), Saxon
meaning "South Forks" country, England, which is near the North Sea
in South East England, West of Cambridge and North of London. -- "American
Surnames" by Elsdon C. Smith.

ANOTHER THEORY ON OUR NAME:

I recently received this information from Steve Deadman in London. "Let me
tell you what I know about the Deadman family, which is limited to what has
been handed down from father to son over the years. I am one of 5 boys and an
identical twin we were a military family, my Father Brian William Deadman was a
Sargent in the Parachute regiment along with with my 4 brothers David, Peter,
John and my twin Lawrence, unfortunately David and I are the only survivors as
the regiment takes a big toll on families, (tours of Ireland etc.) I didn't go
into the regiment and instead went to sea as a steward on passenger liners and
had a great time ending up as first class steward on the MV Sun Princess (Love
Boat) Cruising 6 months in the Caribbean 2 months Panama Canal and 4 months in
Canada and Alaska. My Dad was one of two boys his Brothers name was Dennis and
he Died at Arnham during the second world war. My Grandad's name was Joseph
Deadman and he was married to Amelia whose maiden name was Herbert one of two
sisters, My Grandad by all accounts was a real character and this is where we
go into a darker side of the Deadman family ! in the 1940s he was a black shirt
and a fully fledged member of the British Nazi party one of (Mosley's men) and
apparently spent time behind bars for his beliefs, I didn't know him as he died
when I was very young, but my Grandmother told us that our family originated
from up north and that we can trace our family history back to the earliest
Kings and Queens of England and around the 14th Century we were brought to
London as Executioners and at the time of the great plague of London our family
was commissioned to burn and bury the bodies at Graves End and Blackheath,
there was a great deal of research done by my Uncle but unfortunately this has
been lost over the years, but one day when I have finished my studies I intend
to spend some time finding out all of our secrets, I found out something
uncanny a couple of years ago about the house I now live in which I purchased 6
years ago, the house was built in 1928 and the first owner was called Mr.
Deadman! I know that a lot of what I have told you is unsubstantiated but when
I have the facts you will be the first to know. Hope this was of interest to
you, please let me have anything you have on the family . Look forward to
hearing from you Steve Deadman London.